OFFICIAL WINTER CHALLENGE - 2008/2009 Showing 51-100 of 2,159

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

Yeah, there are several books with Silent Night in the title - the one by Mary Higgins Clark, and another by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts), and I think there's an R.L. Stine and several others as well.

[Ann from S.C.]

Ok, I have a question. If I have started a book, but do not finish it until after Dec. 1, does it count? I have started THE STUPIDIST ANGEL, but won't finish it until after the winter challenge starts.

[Jeane]

Ann, this is the answer I got: books you start reading on December 1st and finish by Feb 28 count for this challenge

[Kate]

For the book and a sequel, can it be like books two and three in a series or does it have to be book one and two?

[Melody]

Thanks Cynthia for allowing rain as a winter word. Down here in the Southern Hemisphere it really does rain alot in winter and we dont get alot of the other.

[Cynthia]

Jamie yes re-reads are ok for all of the tasks this go around.

Angela - you are welcome - glad to help.

Ann - Jeane is correct I had said that only books started after Dec 1 count towards the challenge - but I will amend this (I think did this in the summer challenge) to say that if you have more than 50% of the book you are reading prior to December 1st left to finish you can count it for the challenge.

Kathryn - As long as you read book two followed by book three not like book 5 then book 8 (i.e. you read them in order) it will count.

Melody - no problems - it wasn't that big of a stretch to include it with the other words.

P.S. I updated the rules to reflect some of the questions we've had so far in this challenge and based on things that came up in the fall challenge.

[Ann from S.C.]

OK, I am putting it on hold for now, because I have another book that is due back to the library.
Thank you Cynthia!!

[Emma]

Question:

For the read book and it's sequel, can we read the book before December the 1st and THEN the sequel or do you have to read both together?

[Cynthia]

Ok - For that task - the first you would have to have read no more than half of it before the Dec 1st date finish it after the challenge starts and then read the second right after finishing it back to back - you can't read a book in between them.

[Kate]

I am only about a third through the 3rd book in the twilight series so I think I might put that aside and read it and Breaking Dawn for the book and the sequel... Or I will do it with another series. Maybe the 2nd and 3rd books in the His Dark Material series.

[Alyssa]

omg crazy excited!

[Jane]

I'm am new to this. Sounds fun, so I think I'll try it. A few questions:

1. How are we keeping track? Should I post it as I go along or do a big list at the end?
2. As far as the sequel is concerned, do series count?
3. I tried checking out the link to the dead authors, but it's not coming up. Any suggestions? I will try the infinite wisdom of Google in the meantime.

[Kate]

Jane- for the link, there was accidently a ) at the end so just delete it from the URL.

[Cynthia]

Jane
1. Most people post as they go along - you can check out the fall challenge post to get an idea - I post a leader board at the top or near the top of each page.
2. Series count as long as the books are read in order and back to back.
3. I'll fix the link - wasn't aware it was messed up.

[Julia]

Wow, this sounds really fun! I'm fairly new to this group and haven't done any of the challenges yet, but I think I'm going to print this out and give it a try.

[Terri]

Cynthia, would either !Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heartor Body Surfing: A Novel be ok for the 'book with the name of a body part'? Thanks

[Cynthia]

Not Body Surfing because it doesn't have a specific part in the title but the other one is good.

[Terri]

Ok, cool. Thanks!

[Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner)]

5 POINT TASKS
1. Read A Book With A Main Character Who Is African American Or A Biography/Autobiography Of An African American. .. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

2. February Is National Library Lovers Month...Visit Your Local Library And Either Check Out A Book Or For Those Who Have To Own - Buy One From A Library Sale And Read That Book. (Previously Purchased Books Don’t Count.) The Book Thief

3. For Valentine’s Day: Read a Romance Novel.---pride and prejudice

4. It’s Winter: Read A Book Whose Title Contains a Winter Weather Word – i.e. Blizzard, Snow, Ice, Sleet, Icicle, Snowflake, Frost, Freeze, Slush, Flurry, Chill, Or Hail. Holiday’s on Ice by David Sedaris

5. Pick 10 Books From Your TBR List, Put The Titles Pieces Of Paper, And Pick One Out Of A Basket Or A Hat Whatever You Can Find, And Then Read That Book. The History of Love

6. Read A Book By A New, First Time Author. (The author can have only one published book at the time you read it.) Love is A Mix Tape by Robert Sheffield

7. Read A Book Whose Title Starts With The Word Who, What, Where, When, Why Or How. -- What They Always Tell Us

8. Read A Book Whose Title Contains The Word Winter, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or any other winter holiday. —a Christmas carol

9. Read A Mystery Novel.—the thirteenth tale

10. The Oscars Are In February: Read a Book you’ve Already Seen the Film To. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer


10 POINT TASKS
1. For Chinese New Year: Read a Book That Takes Place in China or Was Written By a Chinese Author.
Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth: A Novel
by Xiaolu Guo

2. For The Holiday Season: Read a Book with a Holiday Song in the Title.
Let It Snow: Three Holiday Stories
by John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle

3. For Christmas: Read a Book with Any of the Following in the Title: Angel, Miracle, God, Jesus, Shepherd, Manger, Wise Man, Mary, or Joseph. Searcing for God knows what--donald miller

4. For Valentine’s Day: Read a Book with the Word Love, Romance, Kiss, Valentine, Cupid, Sweetheart or Heart in the Title.-- Eat, Pray, Love

5. Many Great Authors Died In 2008: Read A Book By An Author Who Died This Year.-- Guernsey

6. Read A Book That Takes Place In A Country That Is Part Of Your Ancestry (I.E. If Your Irish Read A Book That Takes Place In Ireland Or About Ireland).---Dubliners—James Joyce

7. Read A Book Where The Main Character Is Mentally Or Physically Handicapped.-- Wasted: A memory of anorexia and bulimia

8. Read A Book Whose Title Contains The Word King, Queen, Princess, Prince, Duke, Or Duchess.-- There's a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell: A Novel of Sewer Pipes, Pageant Queens, and Big Trouble

9. Read A Book With December, January, Or February In The Title.—a wedding in december by anita shreve

10. Read A Book With A Title Containing The Name Of A Body Part (Eg. Hand, Nail, Finger, Toe, Etc). Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
15 POINT TASKS
1. For African American History Month: Read a Book about the Civil Rights Movement (Non-Fiction) or Takes Place during That Time Period (Fiction). The Secret Life of Bees

2. For Christmas: Read a Book with the word Santa, Elf, or the Name of Any of the Reindeer in the Title.—the santaland diaries

3. For Valentine’s Day: Read a Book with the Word Chocolate (Or Type of Chocolate or Other Candy) In The Title, Then Eat That Kind Of Chocolate Or Candy.--- like water for chocolate

4. Read A Book And Read It's Sequel. Books should be read back to back. They can be any two books from a series (not necessarily book 1 & 2) but should be read in order i.e. book 3 then book 4 not book 5 then 8. New moon & eclipse

5. Read A Book Where One Of The Main Characters Has The Same Profession As You. Franny and Zooey

6. Read A Historical Fiction Book Featuring A
Famous Historic Personality Or A Biography Of A Historical Figure. –the other Boleyn girl

7. Read A Non-Fiction Book About A Religion Other
Than Your Own.----the compassionate life

8. Read A Book That Relates To One Of Your New Year's Resolutions.—the five love languages


9. The Oscar’s are coming: Read a Book or Play Whose Movie Counterpart Was Nominated or That Won in the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay Category and Watch the Film. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...
About a boy by nick hornby

10. In Honor Of Inauguration Day: Read A Book About Politics/Politicians (Fiction Or Non-Fiction).-- If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote, They'd Have Given Us Candidates

25 POINT TASKS

1-Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami (from japan)

2- The Irresistible Revolution

3- Breaking Dawn

[d4]

This seems kind of fun, so I think I will try it. :D

[Marsha]

I'll be shooting for 175 this time. Great categories. It looks like it will be no problem.

[Brittany]

I am sort of new to this site, but this sounds really interesting I think I might try it! XD

[Jeane]

I have been doing a countdown for some days and jsut want december to start becuase of the challenge!!!!!

[Sera]

Me, too, Jeane - this will be my first TNBBC seasonal challenge, and I am looking forward to it.

[Terri]

I'm really looking forward to it too! My first TNBBC challenge too ... I'm aiming for 270 points, but I probably won't make that!

[Fiona (Titch)]

And mine and I have no idea what points I am gonna get. But any are always a bonus lol.

[Darla]

Cynthia... If you read a book for every challenge listed, can you start over and start reading books for challenges you've already done and count those points towards your total? I doubt I'll get this far, but I'm curious all the same. Obviously you wouldn't want to read the same book you had just read for the challenge the first time around... am I making any sense????

[Eliz]

I'm new to the group as of yesterday (just happened to stumble across it) but joined because of this challenge. I have soooo many books waiting to be read and this should be the kick in the pants I need to start working on them. Personal goal: 150 points.

[Darla]

okay, so I'm now at 175 points using only books I have. If I get through them all I have 7 ideas for the remaining challenges. The only challenge I seem to not be able to find a book for is:

Read a book where the main character has the same job as you.

I am a shift supervisor at a chain pharmacy. My job titles are: shift supervisor, cashier, pharmacy tech.

Does anyone have any suggestions at all???
Also... do the 25 point challenges come out tomorrow?

[Fiona (Titch)]

Darla, I would advise maybe choosing 1 of those to read about. Well I need to read a book about Stay At Home Mum lol.

[Melissa]

Don't feel too bad, you two, I'm pretty sure there are no books out there with anyone who has my job! I'm a Parliamentary Assistant for the Parliamentarian of the United States Senate. :-P

Darla, I think you'd definitely have more luck with a cashier book.

[Darla]

lol Fiona... I've been at a loss to find a book that has a main character performing any of those jobs.... I'm hoping someone out there can give me a title to look up and try. :)

[Jeane]

I joined in the fall chalenge after it had started already and ended at 65 points. Hope I can go to 100 this time!

If I would decide to read a book about a character with the same job, it would be funny: unemployed! Not that I am unemployed but I was wondering about the story if the character would be unemployed...

[Angela]

One of Jen Lancasters memoir is about her struggling with unemployment... it is a funny read.
Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office

[Jeane]

Wow, angela. The second one sounds heavy (but funny too)

[Angela]

It is a light read... I read it in one day. I just love her books.

[d4]

That book sounds rather interesting. As another unemployed reader, I'll check it out on GR at least... probably won't have it at the libraries here, and as an unemployed (translate: broke) reader, if the library doesn't have it, then generally neither do I.

[d4]

Wow, though, browsed the most recent reviews: harsh.

[d4]

This is my first time participating in a challenge. I know this list is mostly incomplete, but I'm posting it to help me plan, and I want to use books I was already planning to read and avoid re-reads if plausible.

5 POINT TASKS
1.
2. Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates
3.
4.
5. Laughable Loves by Milan Kundera
6. Lottery by Patricia Wood
7.
8. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
9. Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery by Deborah Howe
10. Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer

10 POINT TASKS
1. Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book by Maxine Hong Kingston
2. Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub
3. Jesus Tales by Romulus Linney 12/5
4. Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
5. The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
6.
7.
8. The Ice Queen: A Novel by Alice Hoffman
9. December by Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop
10. A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh

15 POINT TASKS
1. Black Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
2. Santa & Pete: A Novel Of Christmas Present And Past by Christopher Moore 12/1
3. The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars by Joël Glenn Brenner
4. All the Pretty Horses & The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
5. possibly A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
6. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
7. The Year of Living Biblically.... by A.J. Jacobs
8. possibly Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story by Rachel Kadish or as romance
9. Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan 12/5
10. Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore

25 POINT TASKS
1. Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russian author; my last name starts with R.)
2. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman 12/8
3. Read a book of at least 700 pages: am considering re-reading The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, because I've had the urge to do recently and I haven't read it in full in 7 years.

Tasks Completed: 4/33
Total Points Earned:65

[d4]

QUESTION: Regarding the employment one, if currently unemployed, would it be possible to read about a character with the same occupation as your LAST job?

[Cynthia]

Darla - no, tasks from previous challenges can not be used for points in this challenge if all the tasks in this challenge are completed - you can start over and pick different books in the same category from this challenge - but so far I don't think anyone has finished all of the tasks in any one challenge.

For the employment task - If you are unemployed you may pick a book about someone who is unemployed or someone who has the job you previously did before becoming unemployed.

If you have a specific job like Darla or Melissa - you may be more general - i.e. for Darla anyone who works in a pharmacy would work (If you haven't already read Adriana Trigianni's Big Stone Gap series - the main charachter owns and runs a pharmacy) or in Melissa's case - someone who works for the government would be acceptable.

I'll post the 25 point challenges as soon as I get them from the winner's of the fall challenge - hopefully sometime tomorrow.

[Fiona (Titch)]

Can we read Roots?

[Sera]

Do we have to read the books within the months referenced? For example, is it ok to read a Feb book in January?

[Melissa]

Awesome, Cynthia! I can definitely do that! :-)

Sera, I was wondering the same thing!

[Tien]

Woo Hoo! It's the First Day of Summer :)

I was wondering if Animal Farm by George Orwell will count for the 'politics' book?

[Heather]

My goal is 175 points for the Winter Challenge. I'm also going to try to only read books I either already own or books I borrow from the library.

[Cynthia]

Fiona - Roots for which task?
Sera - no you can a book with January in the title in February and visa verse.
Melissa - no problems - I don't want to prohibit people from completing a task by being too technical.
Karen - I'll accept Animal Farm for that - not exactly what I had in mind but it will fit. Oh and I'm jealous it's summer there - I'm freezing now.

[Darla]

Thanks Cynthia... that's what I meant but I don't think I worded it very well :) Ok, so I'm gonna try for 175... That's doing 22 challenges (If I counted correctly) without buying any new books and without re-reading any. Hopefully my move won't screw me up on my time frame, plus I'll be reading one book right away that won't be counting towards my score (I will finish the HP series first!)

[Tien]

Thanks Cynthia - I know it doesn't really fit the task but I thought I'd asked whilst I'm still looking (in case I can't find anything I'm interested in reading) however I think I may found an historical Australian politics book so I may read that :)

[Julianne]

Funny all the comments about the character having the same job as you.

I am a licensed respiratory therapist, but I start a new job tomorrow as "Simulation Educator"

I enjoy books with a medical theme, but don't think I'd find ones with an RT as a main (or even minor) character. I did read a book once where they mentioned the respiratory therapist...

I just assume that's one I can't fulfill--unless I get broader (I am a PT faculty at a university, and have a MS degree in adult education, so maybe a teacher or college faculty.....??? I'm kinda stretching, but...)

Melissa, considering there's no one else (practically) in the world with your job, chances are no one has written a book about how exciting it is to be you...